Main Piece: “There’s a story that a young girl lived near a river bank with family. Everyday she would go down to the river to do chores. One day as she went to collect water, she decided to cool off so she swam. As she swam, a young man appeared sitting at the edge of the river. They started to talk and she began to fall in love with him. From then on they hungout almost every day and spent each night together.  Her dad was kinda concerned so he confronted her. But the girl told him that she was in love so she wanted to marry the fisherman. The father surprisingly agreed and invited the guy to stay the night. But it was weird cuz the father noticed that the man would leave every morning coming back only in the evening. But one night, the fisherman he forgot to wake before dawn, and when the young girl woke up she found a pink dolphin in her bed. The dolphin tried to escape but the father shot it. The fisherman never came back since it was the dolphin so the poor girl began to believe that he left her and it was bad cuz she was pregnant. Nine months later, she died of giving birth and the father found that the baby was a pink dolphin. He realized then that the fisherman was the dolphin he killed. From then on all girls were warned to not talk to guys found near the river bank.”

Background Information: The informant learned this story through his cousin who has Brazilian roots when the informant was a young boy. The informant said he was scared to talk to strangers after hearing this story and had a fear of dolphins for a period of time.

Context: During a car ride with the informant

Thoughts: It is interesting that females are being warned, which hints that in the Brazillian culture woman are looked out for and protected. The boto dolphins are actually becoming very extinct and there is a cry from many Brazilians to protect them.  These pink dolphins usually live in the Amazon River
and make up the largest population of river dolphins in existence. It is interesting that an animal that was a legend in Brazilian culture is now becoming extinct, and I wonder if these stories will continue.